Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1790

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

.6 linear feet (2 boxes)

Language Note:

The bulk of the collection is in English, but there are passages of Hindi within the notebooks.

Preferred Citation:

Shanta Mohan papers relating to Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre at Almora, 1940-1941, Ms. Coll. 1790, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1940-1941 (inclusive)

Creator:

Mohan, Shanta Goel, 1920-2015

Form:

Notebooks, Photograph albums, and Photographs

Abstract:

Shanta Mohan (1920-2015) was a dance student who studied at the Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre at Almora from 1940 to 1941. In existence from 1939 to 1944, the Centre featured a program of study in the arts, including music, dance, theatre, lighting, set and costume design, and make-up. This collection contains nine volumes of detailed notes documenting the dance classes and philosophies taught by the Centre and a photograph album featuring portraits of Uday Shankar and Simkie Segal, group photographs, candid photographs of fellow students and instructors, and dances.

Shanta Mohan (1920-2015) was a dance student who studied at the Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre at Almora from 1940 to 1941. Mohan, born Shanta Goel, lived in Delhi, along with at least five siblings, including her sister Laj (later Agarwal) who also studied at the Centre. According to Sonal Khullar, Mohan went on to raise a family in Delhi. She was the mother of at least two daughters.

The Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre at Almora was founded in 1939, led by Uday Shankar (1900-1977), an Indian dancer and choreographer, with the goal of "bridg[ing] Indian tradition and modern art, categories that were regarded as mutually exclusive at the time," (Khullar, page 15). The program taught music, dance, theatre, lighting, set and costume design, and make-up. The Centre had staff who specialized in dance and dramatic and musical traditions from around India. The people studying at the Centre lived in eight cottages on the Ranidhara estate, ate communally, and had weekly performances and critiques. The community was diverse, made up of Hindu and Muslim, Indian and European, and male and female. The Centre closed in 1944, due to "financial and administrative problems," (Khullar, page 15). According to Joan L. Erdman, Uday Shankar "practically reinvented Indian dance single-handedly."

Works cited:

Erdman, Joan L. "Who Remembers Uday Shankar?" https://web.archive.org/web/20110605110027/http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/Articles/jaffor/uday_shanka2.htm Khullar, Sonal. "Almora Dreams: Art and Life at the Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre, 1939-1944," Marg, 2018 June-September (available in the Kislak control file for this collection).

This collection documents Shanta Mohan's studies at the Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre at Almora from 1940 to 1941. There are nine notebooks in which Mohan recorded what was taught, describing in detail the exercises and dances; and identifying the instructor and the date of the class. These descriptions are frequently accompanied by sketches, usually stick figures to indicate movements and positions. In addition to physical movements, required expressions are also described (sad, angry, happy, etc.). The volumes were numbered by Mohan, but the order of the numbering scheme is unknown. These numbers have been retained; but to see the chronology, volumes should be used in the following order: Volumes 1, 3, 5, and 9 for 1940; and volumes 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 for 1941. While the majority of the text written in the notebook is English, there are passages in Hindi.

The photograph album contains largely unidentified images that were presumably collected and assembled by Mohan. Only two images are captioned: professional portraits of Uday Shankar and Simkie, which include printed identification. All the remaining images appear to be candid and include group shots and casual portraits of students and teachers, classes, rehearsals, and performances. The bulk of the photos are of rehearsals and performances with costumes and props.

According to Khullar, who describes not only the Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre, but also this collection, the material contained "offers a vivid glimpse of art and life in Almora between 1940 and 1941. Mohan's words and images record memories of comrades and conversations, of labor and leisure, of spaces and performances that are now lost or destroyed," (Khullar, p. 18). Khuller's article which identifies some of the images is laid into box 1.